Posts Tagged ‘woodworking manufacturing’
SigmaTEK Systems to host CAD/CAM nesting seminar in March
SigmaTEK Systems, a provider of CAD/CAM nesting solutions, invites manufacturers to attend a half-day seminar that will be held March 27, in Washington, Pa.
SigmaTEK’s “Nest with the Best” roadshow series will begin with this seminar on the latest CAD/CAM nesting technologies and improving the manufacturing process efficiency.
The session runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and includes lunch. For more information on attending or registering for the seminar, please call 513.674.0005 or email Robery Farrell at Bob.farrell@sigmanest.com. More information is also available at www.sigmanest.com/en-us/Company/News/Roadshows/info_PA.html.
Stiles to host European window, door manufacturer tour
Stiles Machinery will host a tour of various window and door manufacturing facilities in Switzerland and Germany, and also to attend the Fensterbau trade fair in Nuremberg, Germany.
The European window and door manufacturer tours will take place March 17-24, 2012, for those looking for new manufacturing processes to expand capabilities, reduce waste and improve quality. The group will also attend Fensterbau/Frontale, the international trade fair for window, door and facade technologies, taking place March 21-24, 2012.
To attend the event, register online at www.stilesmachinery.com/events no later than February 20, 2012, or contact Steve Waltman at 616.581.4737 for more information.
Biesse America holds One2One woodworking event
Biesse America, www.biesseamerica.com, held a two day One2One event October 27 and 28, at the company’s showroom and training facility in Charlotte, N.C.
Biesse held live machinery demonstrations at the One2One event in Charlotte, N.C.
Woodworking manufacturers from throughout North America in industry sectors spanning office furniture to store fixtures attended multiple technical seminars and experienced hands on machinery system demonstrations during the two-day event.
Blum to add hinge manufacturing lines at North Carolina facility
Blum announced plans to add two new hinge manufacturing lines to its North Carolina production facility to assemble the company’s Compact Blumotion hinges.
Blum will install two hinge manufacturing lines at its North Carolina facility.
The lines are expected to be operational by the end of January 2012. The company says the new hinge manufacturing lines will allow it to control inventories more closely and meet unexpected surges in demand.
Ikea’s Swedwood Co. laminates wood furniture on Burkle lines
The Ikea Group’s Swedwood Co. purchased two Burkle foil-laminating lines to produce its wood furniture with foil surfaces.
Two of Burkle’s foil-laminating lines were purchased by Swedwood Co. for installation in Poland.
The foil-laminating lines will be installed in Swedwood’s factories in Poland in fall 2011, including one at the company’s largest Polish factory in Zbaszynek for producing the Expedit furniture line. Both lines are designed for modern glue systems such as urea-formaldehyde or hotmelt, and are suitable for lamination of different kind of foils.
Goff’s Enterprises named to Inc.’s fastest-growing companies list
Industrial partition manufacturer Goff’s Enterprises Inc. was named to Inc. Magazine’s 2011 “Inc. 500|5000″ list, a ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies.
According to Inc. Magazine there are nearly 7 million private companies in the U.S. and Goff’s Enterprises was ranked as number 4209 overall and number 170 in the manufacturing segment.
“Many things have contributed to our continued successes including our incredible customers, our reliable distributors and a trusted team of employees,” said President Tony Goff. “It is an honor to be recognized on this list with such an elite group of companies. I couldn’t be happier with the achievements our company has made and the direction we are headed.”
The median growth rate of 2011 “Inc. 500|5000″ companies is 94 percent and companies listed created 350,000 jobs in the past three years, according to the magazine, producing a total aggregate revenue of $366 billion, up 14 percent from last year.
North American reshoring requires developing skilled workers
For the past two years, the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME) has been leading the Rebirth of Manufacturing Jobs initiative, designed to produce more jobs and opportunities for businesses through collaboration with federal, state and local government agencies, North American manufacturers and educational facilities. The effort is intended to create a lean and green environment for businesses and communities alike, becoming more globally competitive, driving the demand for skilled workers to accelerate the economic recovery and improving the quality of living for citizens.
Manufacturing hasn’t always been a tough job to fill, but even during the recession, 32 percent of manufacturers could not fill jobs because many workers did not have the proper skills. The Roadmap to Education Reform for Manufacturing, a report released earlier this year by The Manufacturing Institute, provides six principles for education reform in the industry:
• Moving to competency-based education;
• Establishing and expanding industry-education partnerships;
• Infusing technology in education;
• Creating excitement for manufacturing careers;
• Applying manufacturing principles like lean to reduce education costs; and
• Expanding successful youth development programs.
Paul Kuchuris, AME’s new president, and Harry Moser, founder of the Reshoring Initiative, continue their joint commitment to bring jobs back to North America and guide the public schools to produce skilled workers using proper curricula, all in the hopes that these trained individuals will be ready to tackle the jobs coming back home.
“In order to bring more manufacturing back to North America, we need a larger, more skilled workforce to produce the reshored work,” says Moser. “Recruits to this workforce are motivated by the industry’s commitment to reshore, showing that jobs will be available.”
In an effort to bring awareness to this issue, Kuchuris and Moser have been pooling their resources to promote the initiative and gain support of other industry leaders, the community and policy-makers—and so far, they have been successful. Projects on which they are currently working include:
• Continually improve the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Estimator tool, which now covers 17 countries
• Launching a new website for the Reshoring Initiative, complete with detailed information and resources
• Committing Moser to 100 presentations nationwide for 2011
• Finding volunteers to work on local reshoring projects
• Obtaining strong support from various government offices, including proposing a budget to promote the use of total cost of ownership software
“We are well on our way to gaining visibility for this initiative, but we have a long way to go when it comes to bringing work back to North America,” says Moser. “Companies have to learn to use TCO to improve their profitability. Eventually, the U.S. has to balance its $600 billion per year trade deficit, and government must realize that reshoring is a much more efficient and feasible solution than exporting for most companies.”
While Kuchuris and Moser have seen increased success in the Rebirth of Manufacturing Jobs through the Reshoring Initiative, their feat is far from over.
“We have several challenges that lie ahead in the coming years, including gaining the attention of larger companies, finding a couple major corporations to reevaluate offshoring and reward supply chain managers on TCO rather than price,” says Moser. “I’d like companies to send me examples of successful reshoring projects, as it will demonstrate the benefits to other management teams.”
If the manufacturing community can reach these goals, it will be easier to recruit skilled workers who can complete the reshored work. However, there are also challenges in producing these workers.
“In order to gain skilled workers, we need to improve our educational system through an outcome-based mentality and performance accountability of our teachers,” says Kuchuris. “Since needs of the business community change all the time, we must also develop personnel programs that focus on the ever-changing skill gaps, as well as cultivate an environment on innovation and empowerment.”
According to Moser, offshoring began at least 50 years ago, and is driven by thousands of consultants and the price-based bonus plans of many supply chain managers. Efforts like the Reshoring Initiative, and therefore, the Rebirth of Manufacturing Jobs, are far outnumbered. However, with leaders like Kuchuris and Moser at the helm, gaining awareness—the first step—is well on its way.
Glenn Marshall is a Director-at-Large of the Association for Manufacturing Excellence and Benchmarking Champion at Newport News Shipbuilding. Contact Marshall at glenn.marshall@hii-nns.com. For more information on the Reshoring Initiative, contact Harry Moser at harry.moser@comcast.net.
Gunlocke seating, wood casegoods earn ‘level’ certification
Gunlocke's Trio Training tables earned BIFMA's level certification.
Gunlocke, an office furniture and wood casegoods manufacturer, renewed and added to its “level” certification from the Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturer’s Association’s Product Sustainability Standard.
BIFMA’s level certification is an independent assessment of the environmental and social impacts of a product’s manufacturing, which considers energy usage, material selection, and human and ecosystem health impacts.
Gunlocke products that meet the level standards include its Converge, Kenna, Kennsington, Medley, Surfaces, Trio, Trio Training, Medley and Sojourn table lines, as well as the Amalfi, Alti, Attract, Austin, Washington, Liza, Mara, Miles, Scarlett, Stretto, Valor, Debonair, Cali, Camille, Carver, Contura, Harlow, Olla, Monde, Fitzgerald, Gracile, New Yorker, Vili, Sojourn, Molti, Porter and Ciji seating lines. Additionally, all of Gunlocke’s casegoods and conference collections were renewed at level 2 criteria.
Holzma to hold Manufacturing Solutions Seminar in October
Holzma U.S. will hold a Manufacturing Solutions Seminar in October, which will focus on three different manufacturing concepts: custom work cell for product flexibility; mid-range work cell for production quantities; and high production work cell for volume manufacturing.
The seminar will take place Oct. 25, at Holzma’s U.S. facility in North Carolina. A number of presentations will cover industry trends, software technology, new developments in functional hardware and the role of the tax code in purchasing equipment. The company will demonstrate its CutRite optimization software, as well as material handling, parts tracking and RFID chip technologies.
For more details and to register, please contact Holzma’s Terry Norris at 704.861.8239 or holzma@stilesmachinery.com.
Masonite plans $14 million wood door plant investment
Masonite International Corp. announced that it is planning to invest $14 million in an automated interior door production line and infrastructure at its Denmark, S.C., plant, which manufactures residential wood doors for the company’s customers in the southeastern U.S.
The company expects to employ up to 200 people within the next five years, when the new technology is fully installed. The company says the system is expected to be operational by early 2013. The South Carolina Department of Commerce and Bamberg County partnered with Masonite to provide a grant from the state’s Regional Infrastructure Fund, as well as other pro-business incentives to expand operations in the Denmark facility. Through the state’s readySC workforce training program, Denmark Technical College is developing a curriculum to train current and future employees of the Denmark facility.
“South Carolina’s Department of Commerce offered economic development solutions that were win-win,” said Fred Lynch, Masonite’s president and CEO. “We are committed to investing in innovative manufacturing and product technologies that will enhance our competitive edge, and we want to make those investments in communities where we have cooperative relationships with regional and local government.”
